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1•hiddenarchitect•41s ago•0 comments

Pitchfork: A devilishly good process manager for developers

https://pitchfork.jdx.dev/
1•ahamez•43s ago•0 comments

You Are Here

https://brooker.co.za/blog/2026/02/07/you-are-here.html
1•mltvc•4m ago•0 comments

Why social apps need to become proactive, not reactive

https://www.heyflare.app/blog/from-reactive-to-proactive-how-ai-agents-will-reshape-social-apps
1•JoanMDuarte•5m ago•1 comments

How patient are AI scrapers, anyway? – Random Thoughts

https://lars.ingebrigtsen.no/2026/02/07/how-patient-are-ai-scrapers-anyway/
1•samtrack2019•6m ago•0 comments

Vouch: A contributor trust management system

https://github.com/mitchellh/vouch
1•SchwKatze•6m ago•0 comments

I built a terminal monitoring app and custom firmware for a clock with Claude

https://duggan.ie/posts/i-built-a-terminal-monitoring-app-and-custom-firmware-for-a-desktop-clock...
1•duggan•7m ago•0 comments

Tiny C Compiler

https://bellard.org/tcc/
1•guerrilla•8m ago•0 comments

Y Combinator Founder Organizes 'March for Billionaires'

https://mlq.ai/news/ai-startup-founder-organizes-march-for-billionaires-protest-against-californi...
1•hidden80•9m ago•1 comments

Ask HN: Need feedback on the idea I'm working on

1•Yogender78•9m ago•0 comments

OpenClaw Addresses Security Risks

https://thebiggish.com/news/openclaw-s-security-flaws-expose-enterprise-risk-22-of-deployments-un...
1•vedantnair•10m ago•0 comments

Apple finalizes Gemini / Siri deal

https://www.engadget.com/ai/apple-reportedly-plans-to-reveal-its-gemini-powered-siri-in-february-...
1•vedantnair•10m ago•0 comments

Italy Railways Sabotaged

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czr4rx04xjpo
3•vedantnair•10m ago•0 comments

Emacs-tramp-RPC: high-performance TRAMP back end using MsgPack-RPC

https://github.com/ArthurHeymans/emacs-tramp-rpc
1•fanf2•12m ago•0 comments

Nintendo Wii Themed Portfolio

https://akiraux.vercel.app/
1•s4074433•16m ago•1 comments

"There must be something like the opposite of suicide "

https://post.substack.com/p/there-must-be-something-like-the
1•rbanffy•18m ago•0 comments

Ask HN: Why doesn't Netflix add a “Theater Mode” that recreates the worst parts?

2•amichail•19m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Engineering Perception with Combinatorial Memetics

1•alan_sass•25m ago•2 comments

Show HN: Steam Daily – A Wordle-like daily puzzle game for Steam fans

https://steamdaily.xyz
1•itshellboy•27m ago•0 comments

The Anthropic Hive Mind

https://steve-yegge.medium.com/the-anthropic-hive-mind-d01f768f3d7b
1•spenvo•27m ago•0 comments

Just Started Using AmpCode

https://intelligenttools.co/blog/ampcode-multi-agent-production
1•BojanTomic•29m ago•0 comments

LLM as an Engineer vs. a Founder?

1•dm03514•29m ago•0 comments

Crosstalk inside cells helps pathogens evade drugs, study finds

https://phys.org/news/2026-01-crosstalk-cells-pathogens-evade-drugs.html
2•PaulHoule•31m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Design system generator (mood to CSS in <1 second)

https://huesly.app
1•egeuysall•31m ago•1 comments

Show HN: 26/02/26 – 5 songs in a day

https://playingwith.variousbits.net/saturday
1•dmje•31m ago•0 comments

Toroidal Logit Bias – Reduce LLM hallucinations 40% with no fine-tuning

https://github.com/Paraxiom/topological-coherence
1•slye514•34m ago•1 comments

Top AI models fail at >96% of tasks

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ai-failed-test-on-remote-freelance-jobs/
5•codexon•34m ago•2 comments

The Science of the Perfect Second (2023)

https://harpers.org/archive/2023/04/the-science-of-the-perfect-second/
1•NaOH•35m ago•0 comments

Bob Beck (OpenBSD) on why vi should stay vi (2006)

https://marc.info/?l=openbsd-misc&m=115820462402673&w=2
2•birdculture•38m ago•0 comments

Show HN: a glimpse into the future of eye tracking for multi-agent use

https://github.com/dchrty/glimpsh
1•dochrty•39m ago•0 comments
Open in hackernews

The Atomic Airplane

https://whatisnuclear.com/the-story-of-the-atomic-airplane.html
79•mpweiher•8mo ago

Comments

krunck•8mo ago
Something that should never be built. Along with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersonic_Low_Altitude_Missil....
piombisallow•8mo ago
Radiation effects are vastly overrated.
gambiting•8mo ago
I agree with you, I've engaged in multiple discussions here on HN with people claiming that a nuclear reactor-equipped rocket or plane makes everything below it poisoned for centuries and uninhabitable just by flying over it. TLDR is that it's simply not true. But, the radiation risks are still significant and cannot be dismissed - and likely mean that we'll never see this kind of propulsion used for anything other than a true "doomsday" weapon where the emissions don't matter but the infinite range and flight time are significant advantages.
arethuza•8mo ago
For a real "doomsday" weapon you don't even need a delivery mechanism.

"When you merely wish to bury bombs, there is no limit to the size"

For a real life example - Teller's Sundial design.

Yeul•8mo ago
This reminds me of something I read about the Vulcan strategic bombers:

After dropping their bombs on Russia they were supposed to fly to North Africa and land on airstrips because England was expected to be gone.

wat10000•8mo ago
There are huge variations in what’s been proposed.

A nuclear-powered airplane would most likely use a closed-cycle reactor with the heat replacing the combustion in otherwise fairly conventional jet engines. They’d be totally harmless in normal operation, with the radiological danger being if they crashed and scattered the contents of their reactor.

Similarly, nuclear thermal rockets like NERVA are closed cycle and pose no radiological danger unless they explode or crash.

And then there are open-cycle designs such as nuclear ramjets, fission-fragment rockets, and Orion. Those are bad news bears for anyone nearby, and possibly the entire planet.

gambiting•8mo ago
I mean even the "worst" of all designs, the one linked in the comment we're all replying to(SLAM - ramjet design) says this:

" Specifically, he states "The reactor radiations, while intense, do not lead to problems with personnel who happen to be under such a power plant passing overhead at flight speed even for very low altitudes." In both documents, he describes calculations that prove the safety of the reactor and its negligible release of fission products compared to the background. Along the same vein of these calculations, the missile would be moving too quickly to expose any living things to prolonged radiation needed to induce radiation sickness. This is due to the relatively low population of neutrons that would make it to the ground per kilometer, for a vehicle traveling at several hundred meters per second. Any radioactive fuel elements within the reactor itself would be contained and not stripped by the air to reach the ground"

Orion is obviously incredibly bad due to the fact it uses actual nuclear detonations for prepulsion. But it's never been a very serious project, while SLAM has been built and tested.

wat10000•8mo ago
Of the things I listed, SLAM seems like the least bad. The reactor at least tries to keep the fission products within the reactor. That said, I would be very skeptical of safety claims from someone who needs it to be safe for their project to be successful, especially from the 1950s.
cycomanic•8mo ago
It's worth remembering that airplanes have to start, land and taxi as well. So while radiation levels might be safe while the plane is flying at altitude, things might be very different where planes have to land and start.
lupusreal•8mo ago
I'm convinced that nuclear salt water rockets would be safe to operate in space. And a much better idea than Orion.
wat10000•8mo ago
Not frying every satellite above the horizon when used near Earth would certainly be a plus.
perihelions•8mo ago
The Russians already built one, supposedly [0].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9M730_Burevestnik

sandworm101•8mo ago
Way to bury the lead. The NATO reporting name for this missile appears to be "SKYFALL", maybe the best codename ever.
preisschild•8mo ago
And already caused a nuclear accident with 5 russian deaths :)
acidburnNSA•8mo ago
There's a pretty slick film on nuclear propelled cruise missiles as well: https://youtu.be/8qMuS5kaDBI
__turbobrew__•8mo ago
> 350 MW/m3

It is pretty insane the power density you can get when you don’t shield a reactor.

christkv•8mo ago
Definitively up there with most fallout design idea.
acidburnNSA•8mo ago
If you like nuclear powered flight, you'll also really enjoy this other one that I got digitized in February: "Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion: Manned Aircraft Progress Report" [1]. It's actually from back in the 50s and digitized extremely well.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-8q8INxQEY

I also have a blog announcement of it if you just want to see some screenshots up front before deciding to dig in: [2]

[2] https://whatisnuclear.com/news/2025-02-03-declassified-nucle...

webdoodle•8mo ago
The engine to one of these atomic airplanes is on display at Idaho National Labs, near Sun Valley, Idaho.
acidburnNSA•8mo ago
Two of them actually! Those are HTRE-1/2 and HTRE-3 mentioned in the transcript, (and shown back in the day here [1]). HTRE-1 was disassembled and turned into HTRE-2 which is why you only see two of them now.

[1] https://youtu.be/V-8q8INxQEY?t=372

waffletower•8mo ago
Thunderbirds are go!
petalmind•8mo ago
Here are some scans from a 1957 Soviet book on nuclear aircraft:

https://xplanes.tumblr.com/post/30938386375/from-the-cover-o...

https://xplanes.tumblr.com/post/30941448265/from-nuclear-pow...

https://xplanes.tumblr.com/post/30944519719/from-nuclear-pow...

https://xplanes.tumblr.com/post/30947450568/from-nuclear-pow...

https://xplanes.tumblr.com/post/30952419021/from-nuclear-pow...

glimshe•8mo ago
Beyond SpaceX, do we still work on crazy futuristic stuff like this and things such as windowed user interfaces (which was very futuristic at one point)?
preisschild•8mo ago
> Beyond SpaceX, do we still work on crazy futuristic stuff like this

Yes, NASA&DARPA wanted to revive nuclear thermal propulsion and Lockheed Martin&BWXT were already building a demonstrator rocket for an in-space demo, but the Trump admin axed the funding...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonstration_Rocket_for_Agile...

t1234s•8mo ago
I remember seeing an interview with UFO researcher Stanton Freedman and he claimed he worked on nuclear airplane projects.
loph•8mo ago
This is related.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Nuclear_Aircraft_Labor...

my understanding is that the area is still a bit "hot" with radiation.